Contracts in question

About 700 Hereford & Worcester employees may have been
wrongfully dismissed when their contracts were changed, Unison
says.

The union, in dispute over changes to overtime and sick pay, may
take the cases to industrial tribunals.

Walsall’s Unison members were due to vote on proposals to hold
two one-day strikes over redundancies and reorganisation as
Community Care went to press. They will also decide whether to
refuse to co-operate on the ruling Labour group’s decentralisation
plans.

Liverpool Unison, now in the ninth week of a residential homes
strike, is claiming victory following a ruling by the arbitrating
body that managers should maintain rates of sleep-in pay.

But assistant director Graham Burgess said the ruling depended
on a reduction in the sickness rate, now at 26 days per person per
year.